


Guys?... Little Help Here?

by pebbles12345



Category: Supernatural
Genre: 15.13 coda, Castiel and Dean Winchester Have a Profound Bond, Castiel and Dean Winchester Need to Use Their Words, Castiel and Dean Winchester Use Their Words, Castiel and Dean Winchester in Love, Dean-cave | Fortress of Dean-a-tude (Supernatural), Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Post Episode 15 x 13, PowerPoint, Sam has to deal with a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:40:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25134790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pebbles12345/pseuds/pebbles12345
Summary: Sam has been there through it all with his brother and their Angel. He has sat through the pining, interrupted the staring, and has basically been a champ through it all. But having to keep hell hounds at bay while his brother and angel argue over a ball pushes Sam over the ledge.So, he does what any younger brother would do, he creates a PowerPoint presentation and magically locks them all in the Dean-cave. Acting as moderator, therapist, and lecturer he gets the men to talk. About feelings.Post episode 15.13 "Destiny's Child". Told from Sam's perspective.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 16
Kudos: 127





	Guys?... Little Help Here?

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this fic popped into my head while watching Sam straining to keep those church doors closed. I was wondering what was going on in his mind while listening to his brother and Cas argue yet again and thought I'd take a stab at writing about it. It turned into a thing complete with powerpoint slides. Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed creating. :-)
> 
> I do not own Supernatural or PowerPoint, or any other book, movie, tv show, and/or song referenced in this tale.

There were times during their eleven-year relationship Sam just _knew_. It started the day he met Castiel. Dean telling him to stop, don’t shoot, it’s Castiel the angel. Which, really? Dean had shot him, stabbed him, pretty much tried to take him out on _their_ first meeting, but okay, intervene Dean. On that day he was standing there when the Angel got a solid eight inches away from his brother’s face, their eyes practically boring into one another. Yeah, it was an emotionally charged moment, they were trying to save a city when Uriel was trying to demolish it. But even then, the space was charged in and of itself. Sam could feel the heat between hunter and angel before he interrupted. And Dean didn’t back down from the literal force of God. He stood there, practically face to face with Castiel, Angel of the Lord, and licked his frickin’ lips. That was the first time Sam saw it, the first time Sam _felt_ it.

And in the years since? Dear Chuck, what he had had to deal with. There was that time Cas beat the bloody pulp out of Dean and brought him back to Bobby’s, hunter draped over his shoulder. “ _What the hell happened to him?” “Me.”_ And if those words right there didn’t hit the nail on the frickin’ head, what did? Basically, everything that has happened to Dean since can be summed up by that.

Dean allowing himself to stare at a man’s chest while the Angel loosened his shirt to easily access the carved sigil before his friend took on five angels? Even though Sam was standing right the hell there? Cas.

Dean’s faith in his best friend who sided with Crowley against them and took away Dean’s faith, quite possibly the only faith Dean’s ever had in someone other than his brother? Cas happened to him.

Dean dragging a bloody trench coat out of a nasty reservoir so that he could have a reminder of his friend? A friend who had just betrayed him and unleashed Leviathan onto the world. It didn’t matter; to Dean the trench coat was Cas, and he needed Cas. Sam didn’t say a word. He knew, he really had always known. But his brother defending the Angel even when Sam knew there was something going on solidified it. Dean only ever defended those he _loved_ ; everyone else was not to be trusted. The distrust kept him alive.

Cas taught Dean forgiveness. Sam wondered what happened between hunter and angel before Cas agreed to fight Dick. He knew whatever it was, was powerful. He imagined the electricity could be tasted in the air between them, wherever the moment was.

Then Dean went to purgatory with the Angel and Sam hit a dog. And he loved his life there, he loved Amelia. He gave up on the evil, on the monsters and for once allowed himself to live. He did what Dean tried to do when he jumped in the pit, but unlike Dean, Sam was good at it. Sam knew that wherever Dean was, Cas was with him. And Cas, even in the emotional state taking on Sam’s mental anguish put him in, _loved_ Dean, and that was so evident the Angels made comments about it. Constantly. Sam thought that maybe, just maybe, they could be happy without his influence. He knew Cas wasn’t as crazy as he seemed, and he knew Dean loved him. Sam felt that perhaps they could be together if Dean wasn’t so worried about the image it would portray to everyone else. He hoped they were happy together, as he was happy-ish with Amelia.

Of course, that wasn’t the case. Purgatory was awful, Sam couldn’t imagine how awful. But it changed Dean, and Sam thought maybe even for the better. He was stripped somehow, purer. Before purgatory, if Sam had asked what he saw, Dean never would have admitted it was a vision of Cas. But this time, he did. And Sam’s heart shattered. Because he had visions of Jess after she died. And his brother lost Cas, yet again. _“What the hell happened to him?” “Me.”_

And then when they got him back? Dean was in disbelief, guilty, scared, and Sam wondered just what the hell had happened to him. But then, Cas came out of the bathroom, using his limited grace to make himself look like he did before all this, and Dean stared, hard. He shifted in his seat and covered his crotch and Sam wondered, knew, what he was trying to hide. He hid his knowledge behind a mask as his brother looked to him. Cas happened to him, again. This time in a much different way.

That was an emotionally charged time, if Sam had ever been in one. Sam interrupted the pair standing behind the Impala. He awkwardly asked if everything was okay, noticing the pair’s stare. Cas said they were _“setting a few things straight_ ” and Sam thought that was the worst choice of words he ever heard. And Dean? Dean looked relieved, lost, hurt, and sad all at the same time. Sam couldn’t help but wonder what happened, again.

Not too long after that he walked into the motel room and right into the middle of another staring session. He spoke up like he always did, to diffuse the moment that made him feel like a voyeur. He caught his brother’s pain though, and Cas’s relief at the interruption. So, what the hell?

And the Gadreel mess. The Cas being human and what the hell did you put him through Dean mess? Sam knew Cas’s time as a human was awful, and it hurt his soul to know he was the reason behind that. And Cas used his limited stolen grace to heal him. While that year may have been a tough one for Dean and Cas’s relationship, it was the year in which Sam solidified his friendship with Cas. The Angel was his best friend as well now. But Cas never wavered in his affection for his brother. He was hurt, but it didn’t matter. Cas was there, with his stolen grace making him sicker by the day. Dean made some stupid decisions that year, and Cas was there to help them with all of them. _“Me.”_

And oh Chuck, Demon Dean. Cas rushing to the rescue to use his stolen Angel powers to save Sam from being killed with a hammer. What even was their lives? Again, Cas never wavered. He turned down an army of Angels for Dean. An army, for one man. The one man Cas would do anything for, Sam now knew.

Amara must have sensed his brother’s and Angel’s connection because she used Cas against the hunter frequently. She carved a message into Cas’s chest to make a point. She must have made Cas feel worthless enough to make him say ‘yes’ to Lucifer. Dean was so distraught over that whole thing. In spite of the Angel making his own choices, Dean was gonna ‘bring him home’. He yelled the Angel’s name time and time again, hoping for his friend to come back to him, force Lucifer out. Sam didn’t know why he didn’t, but he figured Amara must have broken him somehow. And Cas was broken, thinking Dean had died. But damn it all if the Angel wasn’t trying his best to make sure Sam was okay. He figured Dean must have told him too.

The year after they defeated the Darkness was one in which Sam felt like an intruder on the two. Dean was the happiest he’d ever seen. They got mom and Cas back, Yeah, a lot of things went to shit, but this was the year Sam was sure Dean was gonna wreck the car because the two of them were having one of their squabbles in the car. Dean was mad about the Angel killing Billie for them because of Cosmic consequences. Cas had admitted his love for Dean, and the rest of them. _“I love you. I love all of you_.” And Dean, Chuck bless him (or not at this time) was staring with his sad eyes, trying to will the angel back to life. He wouldn’t accept it because it was a deathbed confession, and he knew his brother wasn’t going to accept Cas’s death.

Then, the angel’s actual death. Lucifer stabbing Cas with one of those angel blades and light erupting from their best friend. Dean kneeling at the body, Sam running inside to try and find Jack. Then Dean shooting Jack because he blamed the kid for everything. Dean was an alcoholic mess, and Sam tried, did he ever try. Then, Cas came back. And Dean was all excited again, talking about cowboys and drinking coffee. _“What the hell happened to him?” “Me.”_

The next year was shit. Just shit, plain and simple. Losing Jack, losing mom. Knowing they were being played by Chuck the whole damn time. And Cas. _“You’re dead to me.”_ Even Sam shirked at the words said with malice by his brother, he couldn’t imagine how the Angel felt. And yet, he stayed. Sam knew he needed space, but what he said was just frickin’ painful. But Cas stayed, and he fought, but then, he left and Sam didn’t know where, and he didn’t ask.

But Cas came back, just like he always does. And even though he was in a vision coma from the Angel’s prodding, he understood the reasoning behind it. And Cas fixed it. With blackmail, which Sam was actually kind of proud of. And Eileen was there, and their family was whole, but it wasn’t. Dean and Cas wouldn’t even look at each other and Sam wondered what went down. Because something must have went down. The Angel wasn’t even answering his messages or calls. But now here he was, once more fighting the fight. Then, purgatory happened. And just like the first time it broke down his brother’s defenses. Because when they came back, and got him, they were good.

But this? This was the last final frickin’ straw. Sam was holding back literal hounds from hell while his idiotic brother and his brother’s stupid Angel were arguing over a magical sphere.

There they were, standing mere inches apart arguing over what happened to the Occultum. While he, Sam Winchester, was the only thing holding back the hounds of hell. They didn’t listen to his distress, they didn’t care. There it was, between them, the electricity so charged the air was crackling.

_“What do you mean if Jack comes back?”_

_“I don’t know what’s happening here. I, I had no idea this was going to involve ingesting some magical sphere and then disappearing, Dean.”_

All through this argument where his hunter brother and celestial being were arguing Sam was struggling with keeping them from being ripped apart. And he was pissed. He had been at the mercy of his brother and his brother’s angel’s tension too damn long, and he was over it. And he planned to do something about it.

*******

Sam gave it a week. Jack was settling back in, complete with soul, and Sam wanted to be there for him as much as he could be. So, after the week, when Jack seemed okay, Sam went about his plan.

He disguised it as movie night in the ‘Dean cave’.

Dean plopped into his usual recliner, beer in hand. “Where’s the kid?”

Sam was propped up on another chair, laptop in hand. “He won’t be joining us.”

“What?” Cas questioned, coming into the room.

With a word muttered in Latin, Sam magically shut and locked the door.

“Sammy, what the hell?”

Sam smiled.

Cas wasn’t sure this was completely his friend, so his angelic eyes looked for Sam’s soul. And it was there, so he relaxed and took the seat in the recliner next to Dean.

“We are having an intervention.”

“Ah, no we’re not. I don’t drink all that much.” Dean tried getting up from his seat, but found he was unable.

“Sammy, this isn’t funny. Let me go.”

“Nope. Okay, so, I made a power point presentation.”

And sure enough, Sam Winchester transferred what was on his laptop to the tv Dean bought with Charlie’s magical credit card to replace the ghost one.

“Oh, hell no, Sam.”

Cas tilted his head, eyes narrowed at the youngest Winchester. Sam legitimately winked at him.

“Yes, Dean. So…” Sam got a laser pointer with a clicker and stood next to the television, addressing his audience of two. “When we were at the church, you two decided to engage in an argument instead of helping me keep the hell hounds out.”

“We were trying to figure out what the hell happened to Jack!”

“No, you were arguing and ignoring everything else, like you always do whenever you are in each other’s orbit, so, we are going to figure that out now before the big fight with Chuck.”

He pressed the clicker.

“Dean, you start. Note the rules.”

“Sam…” Dean was furious, red skin showing through his collar.

Sam simply shrugged. “We’re in here until all the slides are done, so, your call.”

“Why are there rules, Sam?”

“Well, Cas, because those are two words you two default to in order to mask your true emotions, so, we’re taking them off the board.”

Cas nodded, obviously much more agreeable than Dean.

Dean cleared his throat. “Uh, Cas, I uh, you’re my uh…” He looked to Sam, who smirked.

“Cas, you mean a hell of a lot to me, man.” He smiled at his brother.

Sam rolled his eyes and looked to the Angel.

“Dean, in all of our years together we have hurt one another deeply, yet we always find our way back. When you told me that I was dead to you and that I was always the something that went wrong, I felt as if my whole world was shattered, because to me, it was. I had lost Jack, my son, our son, and your mother, who I grew very close to. I had no one, no purpose, so, I decided to go fishing, as you so often did in your dreams. And as you did with Jack before he died the first time. I thought it might bring me peace, but I only found that when I brutally killed a djinn and saved a boy. It was then I learned I needed to get back into the game, because I do help.”

“Hell yeah, you help Cas, I was a dick, man.”

The angel stopped him from continuing. “I have not yet completed the slide’s task. Even though I was very hurt and felt as if the entire last decade meant nothing to you, I still cared about and for you. I tried to find peace in the one thing you seemed to enjoy completely. Your peace has been my peace since the moment I laid a hand on you in hell, Dean. Your happiness, my happiness. Millions of years of existence meant nothing the moment I touched your soul. You do not simply mean everything to me Dean, you are everything.”

Well holy shit on a shingle, Sam was not expecting that. But he was hella pleased by it. Cas won this round. Sam smiled at the shocked look on his brother’s face as he went to get one of the honey sticks he bought. He handed it to Cas after opening it.

“You won that slide.”

Dean glowered at him before once more gazing at the Angel.

“Thank you, Sam.” Cas smiled as he slowly began to eat his honey.

Sam saw the smallest trace of tears in his brother’s eyes. He smiled inwardly as he pressed the clicker.

Castiel, Angel of the Lord, looked at Sam with such confusion the younger hunter almost laughed. And then, as if it was the easiest thing in the world he uttered in his deep voice,

“Love.”

Dean looked pained, drained, and pissed the hell off. He glared once more at Sam. “Completely and utterly? Been reading ‘Twilight’ again princess?”

Sam shrugged, determined not to let anything get in the way of this.

Dean looked towards the expectant Angel and pursed his lips. His nostrils flared and he muttered with a conviction Sam was used to only hearing when there was a big fight ahead of them one word neither youngest hunter nor Angel was expecting,

“Home.”

And screw it all, Sam was elated. This was going way better than he ever expected. He poured Dean half a shot of whiskey and gave it to him. The eldest hunter downed it with a scowl.

And if that Angel wasn’t giving his brother the softest look in the world. Cas may be more eloquent, but damn if Dean didn’t give it his all with that one. Sam didn’t want to make light of the moment, so he simply kept the running tally in his head. So far, hunter and angel were even.

He pressed the clicker once again.

“I swear Sammy, I’m mad as hell about this.” Dean points his finger towards his brother. “This is some of the shittiest shit you’ve done.”

“I could’ve died, Dean. While you two argued over a magical ball.”

“Sphere.” Cas inputs.

“You were fine, Sammy, I knew you were fine.”

Sam scratches his head, annoyance seeping from every pore. “That’s not the point. The point is, you two are oblivious to everything around you when you’re like that because there’s so much tension between you two because you never frickin’ talk!”

“We are fine now, Sam.”

“No, Cas, you’re not. Every time you’re dead, or gone, Dean is a mess. And I’m tired of it. So, we’re gonna work this out here and now. So, your turn, Dean.”

With a growl, Dean rereads the slide. “Uh, when you go off and do stuff without me, us. When you just leave without any reason or telling us where you are. When you do really stupid shit and don’t ask us about it. When you’re all secretive with your angel shit.”

“Those were multiple things, Dean.”

“Yeah, well, they all bother me.”

The room is quiet and Sam clears his throat, playing mediator. “Which bothers you the most?”

Dean sighs and rubs his hand along his chin. “When he leaves.”

Cas looks at his hands which are resting in his lap. “I only leave because I feel that you want me to leave.”

“Damn it Cas, don’t you get it by now? I don’t ever want you to leave. I want you here, man, all the time. Why do you think we have movie night, huh? You’re an angel of the Lord, and you’re here with me and Sammy and we watch movies for crying out loud, and you think I want you to leave?!”

“You say horrible things Dean.”

“Because I’m mad, and because you take it.”

Cas looks up at him, blue eyes boring into Dean’s soul. Sam looks back and forth, as if this were some high drama soap.

“Although that is admirably truthful, it is also very painful.”

Dean quickly shuts his eyes and then opens them back up to once more meet his angel’s gaze. “You’re strong Cas. You’ve always been strong. And I just get so angry and you’ve always just taken it. I guess I kinda forget you’re not that impassive Angel you were all those years ago.”

“No, Dean. You know exactly who I am. I am the being who admitted to loving you not so long ago and you said nothing. You know your words hurt me, and yet you say them anyway. I have forgiven you, and I love you, but Sam is right, our tension should be resolved before we go up against Chuck.”

“I thought we figured it out Cas, in purgatory.”

“We forgave each other in purgatory, Dean. We should have not been so involved in ourselves that Sam had to hold off hellhounds on his own. And I imagine this was only the final cup.”

Dean shook his head. “Straw, man, the final straw.”

“Regardless. I apologize Sam. I should have been the one to hold off the hounds.”

“That’s not why we’re here. But, thank you.”

“Then why are we here Sam?”

Sam smiles as he clicks to the next slide.

Cas looked at the green-eyed hunter and just went straight into it.

“Dean, you have the brightest soul I have ever seen on any human, it is intoxicating, and I get lost in it whenever I look into your eyes. Your devotion to Sam and his well-being brings a sense of wholeness to my grace. You care fiercely for others and you would do anything in your considerable power to help anyone. I admire who you are and who you have become. You are a moral compass I could never imagined I would need, and for all my debts to you I can never repay.”

His brother looked lost once more, all the weight and devotion and frickin’ _love_ pouring from Cas’s words melting him. Sam could see it, and as much as Sam felt like he was intruding, he knew he was needed for this.

“Cas, man, I, uh..”

The Angel smiled sadly at him. Sam could tell he wanted to reach out and grab his brother’s hand, but he didn’t, he was far too composed, and scared.

“You don’t have to say anything Dean.”

Dean chuckled. “Yeah I do, or asshole over there won’t go to the next shitty slide.”

Cas looked disappointed, and his eyes returned once more to his hands. Sam could feel Dean’s pull to the Angel, the electricity was always there, but he needed his older brother to just use his words.

“Cas, I didn’t mean it like that. You know I’m not good at this stuff, and you man, you’re freaking eloquent. You could be writing some sappy Lifetime love story and I’d still be gawking over how badass you are, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel too, you know?”

Cas looked up at him. Sam once more felt like he wasn’t in the room.

“And that’s one I guess, you’re badass. I thought I lost you in purgatory, again. And there you were, waiting on me with that blossom. And you have had your wings scorched, and you never give up. You help us out every single time. And you are raising a kid that’s not yours because you made a promise. You’re going up against your dad because you think it’s right. I don’t know man, I guess I’m just impressed by you.”

That went better than Sam could’ve hoped. He gave Dean another half-shot, and Cas another honey stick.

He resumed his place in front of the television and pressed the clicker once more.

“Sammy, what the hell?” Dean was trying to get up again, a flush going down his face and under his shirt collar.

Cas looked flushed as well, which was an interesting look on an angel, neither one looked at each other.

“Are you trying to mess up our friendship here, because this is doing a really bang-up job!”

Sam sighed, knowing he was going to have trouble with this slide. He walked back and forth like a lecturer.

“No, I am not trying to break up a friendship here, Dean, I’m trying to build something else.”

“Screw you Sam, I’m not gay.”

Cas puts his head in his hand, obviously embarrassed and mortified.

“Dean, it’s okay. This is me you’re talking to. Not dad. I love you, Dean. For who you are. I also notice things, and it’s all okay, it’s all okay. I noticed it from the first time I saw you and Cas together. All those years ago. Attraction. And I’ve been waiting, hoping for this. Because you two need each other. I only realize how much when the other one is gone. It’s like you’re pining, and I remember that feeling, because I felt that way once too.”

Dean looked up at his brother with glistening eyes. “Sammy, don’t…”

“Dean, this is me, Sam. Your little brother who wants you to have the best in the world. And the best is sitting right next to you in a trench coat.”

Dean’s nostrils flare and he swallows thick emotion. “Really, Sam?”

Sam lets out a type of chuckle. “Dean, I’ve known for a while, and I was just waiting for you to tell me. But now? We may actually die, and if that happens without you getting a shot at happiness, even for a few days, when I could have done something by just being an annoying little brother, I would never have forgiven myself, man.”

Dean looks at his brother with gratitude, and relief. “I, uh, okay, yeah, I guess.”

“Uh, when you got me from Zachariah and told me we had an appointment.” Dean looks to Cas hopefully, fear mingled in those greens.

Cas looks back at him, obviously astonished that his feelings are reciprocated by his hunter. But the love and want in those blue eyes makes Sam long for something like that himself. He knows that Dean is loved fully and completely by Cas.

“The first time was when I rescued your soul from hell. Then I was reprogrammed. The second time was when I watched you rake leaves in your backyard. Then I swallowed Leviathan. The third time was when you gave me that bloody trench coat from the back of Baby. Then I went crazy. The fourth time was when you told me you’d rather have me, cursed or not. Then we went to purgatory, and every prayer you sent to me made my love for you grow exponentially. Then I was rescued and reprogrammed again. The fifth time was when you held onto my coat sleeve and told me that you needed me. And I have loved you ever since.”

If there was electricity before, after those words from the Angel there was lightning. Sam smirked as he magically released the hold on Dean who immediately grabbed up the trench-coated figure and pulled him into an embrace that was so intimate and gentle and fierce all at once Sam rushed to get out. He knew a kiss was coming, and possibly more, so he made haste, but his brother’s words stopped him.

“Sammy?” He pulled away from Cas to focus on his brother, eyes glistening.

“Yeah, Dean?”

And Dean punched him, right across the face.

Sam fell and held his cheek, but still holding a bit of a smile.

“That was a total dick move, but, thanks.”

“Thank you, Sam.” Cas said as he pulled him up and simultaneously healed his throbbing face.

“Now get outta here.” Dean smirked.

Dean looked happy, and Sam thought back once more as he left the two beings who were moving closer to one another as he exited the room:

_“What the hell happened to him?” “Me.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so, so much for reading!! I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
